The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has stated that the speed and innovation occurring in the payment system calls for enhance regulations to keep up with the trends.

In his keynote address at the 31st Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors in Enugu with the theme,

Trends in the Nigerian System: Regulating the Fintech Digital Playing Field,

he said the CBN will ensure the sector was well regulated to protect the country’s financial system.

Emefiele who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Mr. Edward Lametek Adamu, said: “The post-COVID economy is predicted to be dominated by certain trends including a radically altered financial industry landscape as the accelerated shift towards digital financial services will attract more fintech investment and encourage competition to traditional financial institutions.

This calls for an Increased and intensive regulatory scrutiny on the part of regulators to proactively monitor developments and ensure the continuous safety and soundness of the financial ecosystem. It is therefore imperative that Regulators must keep pace with these exponential developments and leverage new knowledge and technology tools such as Regtech and Suptech to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their mandate.

He noted that the fintech and digital revolution was slated to spur up growth and recovery globally and in Nigeria.

He added: “From all indication, digital revolution will be a focus for Financial Institutions in the months ahead therefore making Fintechs a major driver of the industry. Technology continues to change the face of the financial services industry.

The advent of digital financial services, for example, has created faster, more efficient, and typically cheaper transactions compared to traditional financial services. As the global economy recovers from COVID-19, it is obvious that FinTech will play a more important role towards resilient and sustainable recovery.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.